ms652681

Ok...I have a wierd situation. sometimes when I turn the car on, the speedometer, etc. don't come on. It always goes back on eventually, I've noticed usually when i put the cruise control on. but by then I'm on the highway and i'd really like to have all my guages working sooner than that! has anyone heard of this or anything similar? Any suggestions would be helpful. Only a couple times has it stopped working after the car is already but the fix is the same. and i only have stock guages, never been messed with.

shroomster

start with the fuses.....

deadphishy

The Civic Si I'm buying had a simular problem. All the guages broke and would only work sometimes. The dealer is replacing the whole cluster for me before i buy it. It's taking them forever too. I was suppose to have the car last tuesday.

tinman

I'd start by re-seating the 2 plugs on the cluster, and then check the chassis ground point for the dash. THEN, and only then would I suspect the cluster itself.

spunger

My girlfriend's civic has a similar problem. The guages will do everything from showing all 8888888's in the odometer to the Tach, Speedo, and gas guages all act funny. Sometimes flashing, sometimes not working at all, sometimes showing the wrong amounts. We took all the bezel's off and such and found when we wiggle the connector sometimes it comes back. So I've traced it down to a faulty cluster. My parents both work for the goverment building circuit cards and such so I'm gonna take it apart and have them under a scope reset all the solders and stuff. I don't think a new cluster (for out of warranty) cars is cheap.

But check fuses, grounds, and the connectors. We still have it apart because it drives her nuts when it goes haywire. I tried all of the above and came to conclude it's the cluster just by how when the connector wiggles everything works.

Good luck man, I know it can be frustrating but once you find the problem it just depends on how much it is to fix it.

tinman

Yes, that's a cracked solder connection. Actually a very simple and quick fix if you have a small soldering iron and a little practice.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

or buy a cluster from ebay for <$100

ms652681

First off, thanks for all tha advice folks

tinman - mine doesn't go to all 8's or whatever, it either works normally or doesn't do anything at all...not opposed to soldering, got to buy a detailed manual first, and i hope i'm not ignorant, but i haven't cracked dash open yet...it whatever i'll need to solder something easily visible or how do I know?

tinman

Well, it's real easy to take the cluster out. But it may not be the cluster at all, if the cruise switch can cause it to start working again.

Check the connectors first and wiggle them a bit to see if anything changes.

If you are asking about soldering.... DON'T. Let someone who knows do it.

I'll solder a cluster, pay shipping both ways with a return UPS prepaid label.
Otherwise I won't bother.